Thursday, March 03, 2011

I Told Him Where To Go

Yesterday, a young rabbi came up to me at the Kotel and asked a most important question.

He asked me, “What should I do?”

He had been offered a job teaching Torah in a small yeshiva that overlooks the Kotel and the Temple Mount. It is a really nice yeshiva, warm, small, spiritual, in short, a wonderful place to teach and learn. In fact, you could not find a better place to be. After he told me about the job offer, I told him how wonderful that job would be for him. It would be especially good for his spiritual life, living and learning here in the Old City. He would grow tremendously.

But then he told me about another job offer he received. Apparently, he is a sought-after teacher. “The other job,” he said, “is in England. I would have the opportunity to reach thousands of Jews there.”

“Then, there is no question,” I said. “You have to go where you can help the most people. You will grow more by helping them than you would if you stayed here and worked on yourself.”

“But there is a third offer,” he continued. “I have been offered a job teaching in America where I could also reach a lot of Jews. What do you think I should do?”

His asking me such an important question is not such an unusual thing to do. Even though I am not his father, nor his teacher, we are told to seek out advice from a trustworthy friend.

I told him, “You have an English accent. You should go to England where you are accustomed to their ways. What about your wife?” I asked.

He said that she is from England, too. I said, “Then there is no doubt. You should go to England, where your wife will be the most happy. There is nothing more important than that.”

In this short exchange, we see three important principles: 1) Go where you can help the most people, 2) go where you are familiar with the customs, 3) go where your wife will be happy. If you do these three things, your chances of success will be greatly increased.

This is, or was, the end of the story. At least that’s what I thought, until the next afternoon, when the young rabbi came up to me at the Kotel with a big smile on his face.

He said, “When I left you yesterday, I was thinking, ‘Why should I listen to him?’ Just then a father walked by and loudly scolded his son. He said, ‘What? Do I have it to explain to you… and at your age?’”

For those of you who have never experienced the ongoing increased awareness of Hashem’s presence as it is experienced here in the Old City, you may not understand the significance of this exchange.

The young rabbi asked himself a question that really, he should not have had to ask, and Hashem answered him loud and clear through Divine Providence (HashgochaProtis). Although he heard a father speaking to his son, he knew that Hashem was having that father also talk to him.

It is nice when your opinions receive Heavenly approval. ;~)

10
comments:

A Jew
said...

All the Jews and all the communities in the world, collect the Sifrei HaTorah and bring them to Eretz Yisrael urgently, urgently! They will strike the synagogues of the Jews all over the world. Don't play games with the hints of HKB"H. His hints become stronger from week to week and from day to day and from month to month. HKB"H says to everyone: "Jews, my children, don't hesitate! Leave the property and the assets, leave the material things, come to dwell and to live in the Holy Land of Israel."

There is no defense for Jews in the world. The defense is finished. The Shechinah in Eretz Yisrael guards and encircles all of Eretz Yisrael. Sparks of the Shechinah remain in various places in order to gather the Jews to the Holy Land of Israel.

a jew:what are we supposed to lain on Shabbos with no sefer Torah? what about hearing parshat zachor, a Biblical requirement. i'd rather fulfill a mitzvah deOrayta than pay heed to an insane and ignorant tractor driver who, for some reason, everyone now calls rabbi.

Rav Ben Artzi is telling all the Jews throughout the world to come to Eretz Yisrael right away because the entire world is on the verge of collapse. This includes Europe and the United States. Rav Ben Artzi has repeated many times that Eretz Yisrael is the only safe place to be because the Shechina is now located mainly in Eretz Yisrael. So I do not think that it is wise for this young Rabbi to move to England because he saw a father yelling at his son.

"Rav Ben Artzi "who gave him semicha? please don't cheapen smicha by giving an ignoramus the title Rav.

"as repeated many times"there is a fellow on the street corner where i live who repeats many of his insane ramblings. why should i take either of them seriously? if he is a navi, let him appoint a sign, like the Torah instructs us, so we can determine if he is a navi sheker or a navi emes. otherwise, the Torah tells us to not be afraid of his words.

When a Jew follows the halachic process, he is guaranteed an answer from Hashem. Rabbi Locks happens to be the shaliach in this story, but any other G-d fearing Jew will also give him the same answer from Hashem. Hashem will answer any Jew who calls upon Him in Truth. Psalms 145:18. Siach Yitzchok says "While Hashem hears all who cry unto Him in truth, He answers those who fear Him, who subject their desires to His will."